Reading the world

Couple years ago a friend of mine (my friend isn’t helpful because she knows I like challenges) pointed out about a blog of a woman that read books of the world in one year, wow! That is quite big challenge, reading books of the world. I honestly will not be able to read it in one year, but I like to idea and want to start it. Because I love to read about other cultures, to learn, to grow and become open minded. Of course I realise that I will not be able to read books from all the countries because some are not translated to Dutch or English, but I for sure want to have a go! I will start with it in January. Any tips are welcome. I will not tell myself I have to finish this in couple year or so, because a I have not the financial possibility to buy loads of books.
For each country I only put three titles from different authors, or the list will be very long!

Added: Spain

Cambodia:In the Shadow of the Banyan – Vaddey Ratner

France:
Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne

Germany:
Lena is different – Nina Rauprich
The Neverending Story – Michael Ende

Japan:
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami

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14 thoughts on “Reading the world”

[…] translated to Dutch or English, but I for sure want to have a go! I will start with it in January. Any tips are welcome. I will not tell myself I have to finish this in couple year or so, because as I mentioned above, I […]

I’m doing a reading challenge this year with 30 books. I just started with John Grisham’s the Painted House and so far, so good. I wish I could send you some books by Filipino authors for your world reading, but just in case you can check them out at good reads. 😉

You can type Filipino authors on the search. There are just too many but a lot of them has books written in English. Jose Rizal’s works would rank first for me. I have an account on goodreads linked on my site. 🙂

[…] the same name, I learned that IBH lives in the Netherlands and – to my delight – that she has recently posted about her intention to travel the world through books. It was a joy to see another curious bibliophile setting out to explore the rich world of books and […]

I’m doing a similar challenge, except I’m reading several books from each country, and I haven’t set myself any time limit (I’ve got over 2000 books on the list, which I estimate should take me 40-60 years, depending on how many other books I read during that time). The rule I set for myself regarding authors from other countries:
Ideally, for a given country, the author should have spent pretty much their entire life there. Second-best is an author that spent most of their formative years (ie from birth-age 18) in a country, or authors who moved to a country at a young age (under 10) and then spent the rest of their lives there. Third best is an author that moved somewhere as an adult and lived there for a long time. If an author was born somewhere, then moved somewhere else at a young age and never lived in their home country again, I would be really reluctant to count them for their country of origin unless there are absolutely no other options. Of course this all depends on what you’re trying to get out of the project; for me, I wanted to get some insights into cultures that are foreign to me. If someone is born in, say, Japan, but moves to the US at age 3 and spends their whole lives there, I suspect their writing would reflect American culture much more than Japanese culture. It’s sort of arbitrary, and I’ve certainly broken the rule a lot (for instance, in my selection for Tuvalu, the only book I could find was by an English guy who lived in Tuvalu for two years–not ideal, but, I guess, better than nothing).
I’m looking forward to hearing more about your project as you progress!!

Wow! 2000! I start to follow your blog too. Thanks for your advice on authors with two nationality or born in one and live in another. I think I have to see per book differently and how I feel about it. I read for the same reason, learn more about other cultures and their history.